


Tongue-Tied

by LilBitW15



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Hinted Voice Kink, M/M, Professor Harry Potter, Severus gets cursed, i'm probably missing some tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 15:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilBitW15/pseuds/LilBitW15
Summary: Severus seems to have issues expressing himself to everyone except Harry. What's a young Potter to do?





	Tongue-Tied

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, I don't own the Harry Potter Universe, I just own some well-loved copies of the books. I get nothing from this except for personal enjoyment!  
> Enjoy, my friends!

“ _Get out of my way, you dunderhead. 10 points from Hufflepuff._ ” Harry’s head jerked up as he heard a familiar voice speaking in an unfamiliar way. As he rounded the corner of the hallway, he was nearly plowed down by a dark cloud.

Jumping back, Harry looked up and saw Severus, his usual scowl firmly on his face.

“ _What are you gawking at, Potter? Move_ ,” sneered the Potions Master. Harry could only stare while the older male continued verbally lashing out at everyone in his path, most of them with looks of stark fear on their faces.

Harry shook his head as he continued on to his classroom, excited about the lesson he was teaching today: the Roman Empire in both the Magical and Muggle worlds. Despite everyone’s beliefs and expectations, Harry came back to Hogwarts not to teach Defense but to teach competent History of Magic, revamping the class completely. Many of his fellow professors were surprised but soon they realized he was the most beloved teacher in Hogwarts. Not because he was the Boy-Who-Lived (or his newest title Man-Who-Conquered) but because he made history interesting and actually taught more than the various goblin wars.

As he finished up class and began to walk to the Great Hall for dinner, he heard the students gossiping about Severus and how he was even scarier today. Harry chuckled, having seen beneath the ‘dungeon bat’ mask after a few months teaching and having lots of questions to ask of the older teachers. He entered the Great Hall through the teacher’s entrance and sat down at the table next to a fuming Severus, who seemed even more upset than usual.

“Good evening, Severus. Were your classes difficult today? You seem even more dungeon bat-like than usual,” Harry chided the older man, hoping to get even a small smirk from the surly man.

“ _No Potter, I have not had a good day, **at all**._” The response from Severus still sounded strange to Harry’s ears, but he dismissed it.

“Well, what happened? There’s not a holiday coming up, so the students shouldn’t be too rowdy.” Harry replied absentmindedly as he turned towards his plate, wanting to start dishing up some dinner and be able to claim at least one treacle tart before Pomona stole all of them.

A harsh hand descended on Harry’s shoulder, startling him from his search for the elusive treacle tarts. Harry turned towards the hand, following it up to the snarling Potions Master’s face, curious as to how he managed to piss the man off this time.

“ _You can_ ** _understand_** _me?! And you said_ ** _nothing_** _earlier?! Bloody hell, that means I’m speaking Parseltongue this time. How long will this one last…_ ” Severus berated the younger man before mumbling to himself. Harry was now even more confused, and concerned especially with the words ‘this time’.

“Hang on, have you not been speaking English this whole time? And what do you mean ‘this time’? How long has this been happening, Severus?”

Severus glowered at Harry, apparently not in the mood to explain himself at all, and turned back to his own dinner, leaving Harry befuddled and seated at dinner without treacle tart to enjoy,  _damn it Pomona!_

\------

After dinner, Harry walked as quickly as he could to Severus’ quarters, wanting to check on the man and continue their bi-weekly tradition of playing a few games of chess on a night both men don’t have patrols or detentions to oversee.

After knocking on Severus’ door, Harry waited a few minutes before knocking again when there was no answer. He jumped back in shock when the door was thrown open by an enraged Potions Master who had his trademarked snarl on his face.

“ _What part of I do not want company did you imbeciles not understand?!_ ” Severus thundered, glaring at the intruder. Harry’s shocked face slowly morphs into one of severe confusion.

“I didn’t know, Severus. I thought we were going to have our chess game tonight like we’ve had for the past 4 years?” His questioning tone did nothing to alleviate the indignant face of the older male. Severus straightened up before crossing his arms and deepening his sneer.

“ _Well, it’s not all about you, Potter. If you’ve come to make fun of me, I will ask you to bugger off this instant,_ ” Severus drawled before he slammed the door in Harry’s face, missing the crestfallen look on the Gryffindor’s face. However, that look only lasted for a few seconds before it was replaced with a look of anger.

“Fine then, you git! I thought you would like a friend to talk to, but I can see that you would rather suffer alone!” Harry stormed away, heading back to his own rooms in hopes of finding something delightfully strong to drink.  _See if I help that asshole again!_

The next day, there was a note posted on the door to the potions’ classroom, stating that classes were canceled for the day and that all levels had to write an essay on different topics, which the students would need to turn in to Professor McGonagall. When students began gossiping about the announcement in Harry’s class, he tried to ignore them and the concern he could feel building in the back of his mind. But, by the time dinner came around, Harry had nearly lost his mind, listening to any shred of gossip he could about the Potions Master. When he entered the Great Hall for dinner, Harry was disappointed to not see Severus sitting at the teachers’ table, and he dejectedly ate dinner before retiring to his rooms.

This continued for about 4 days before Harry finally broke down and walked down to the dungeons, hoping to find the other man in his office or personal rooms. Harry stuck his head into both Severus’ office and classrooms, but to no avail; there was no sign Severus had been there in a while if the large pile of student essays sitting on his desk was any indication. Harry turned his feet towards the personal rooms of the older male and dragged his feet as he walked down further into the dungeons.

Harry hesitated for a few seconds before gathering his Gryffindor courage and knocked on the door. There was no response, but after a few minutes of standing there and feeling foolish, Harry was surprised when the door opened and the pale visage of the Potions Master was revealed.

“Severus, I wanted to apologize. I was an ass and a dunderhead last week. How are you? You haven’t held any classes for a while and I’m concerned,” Harry earnestly spoke before Severus could open his mouth and berate him again.

“ _Not that you’ll understand me, but I do forgive you, Harry. This curse is driving me insane though, I can never tell when it will change again,_ ” Severus muttered dejectedly. Harry frowned at the other man.

“Why wouldn’t I understand you? Are you still speaking Parseltongue? What curse are you talking about?” The look of surprise and confusion on Severus’ face caused Harry to mentally review the last few minutes in his head, making sure he hadn’t slipped into Parseltongue himself.

“ _You-you can still understand me? But, that’s not possible, unless you know Arabic and didn’t tell anyone…,_ ” Severus responded, turning his confused look into a considering one.

“No, I don’t know Arabic, what does that have to do with anything?” Harry was even more confused and concerned for his fellow teacher. Severus sighed and stepped back, gesturing for Harry to enter his rooms. Harry did so, and both men settled into the comfortable dark purple couches that Severus had in his sitting room.

Harry had been surprised the first time the older man had allowed his former student into his personal rooms. Severus had scoffed at the surprised look and asked if Harry had expected black as the primary color in his rooms. Harry had responded that he had expected to find more Slytherin colors, but that there had been a small hope for black as well. Surprisingly, Severus revealed that he did like dark colors but more along the lines of purple and blue, with a few pieces of dark red Yule gifts from McGonagall.

Shaking his head, Harry returned to the present to see Severus all but collapsed on the sofa across from him. He waited in silence for a few minutes, hoping the other man would start explaining. When Severus said nothing but continued to glare at the ceiling, Harry leaned forward and finally asked the question that had been bugging him.

“Severus, please, what have you been cursed with? I want to help, but I need to know what’s going on.” Severus finally sighed and turned his head to look at Harry.

“ _About 5 weeks ago, one of the last Death Eaters managed to sneak into Hogsmeade and attacked me at the apothecary. Thankfully, none of the passersby were hit, but the Death Eater mangled his spell as he was casting, causing a different outcome. I don’t know what the original spell was supposed to do, but it caused me to speak in different languages. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days or even weeks, but there is no warning when the language will change or what language I will be speaking. That is why I haven’t been teaching and why I haven’t left my rooms in so long. The curse even affects my writing. I write comments on the essays in English, but it turns into whatever language I have been speaking as soon as another person reads it,_ ” Severus finished speaking and released a long sigh, evidently happy to finally explain to another person what’s been happening.

Harry sat back in a state of mild shock, happy to finally understand the situation but at a loss of how to help fix it.

“Wait, if you keep speaking different languages, how come I understand you? I certainly don’t know any other languages besides Parseltongue and English,” Harry asked after thinking about Severus’ problem for a while.

“ _And that, Mr. Potter, is the million-pound question. How can you understand me without the knowledge of another language or the use of a translation charm?_ ” Severus turned his head back towards Harry, looking at him with a considering gaze before he sighed again and closed his eyes. “ _And you didn’t even notice that I changed from Arabic to Ancient Greek halfway through my explanation… how is this possible?_ ”

“Beats me, Severus. I thought all the strange and impossible stuff only happened to me,” sighed Harry as he also stretched out on the couch. The two men stayed quiet for a while.

“…Wanna play some chess?”

\-----------

Over the next couple of weeks, Harry and Severus were rarely apart. It was discovered that Harry could understand Severus no matter the language that was spoken. McGonagall finally hired Draco Malfoy as the substitute professor for the practical potion classes. Otherwise, the students were assigned to read and write essays about various topics.

Severus finally allowed Harry to help him grade the essays by dictating comments that Harry would write on the essays, although Harry's versions were sometimes nicer than what Severus wanted.

During the entire time, the two were researching any way to break the curse on Severus. They tried general and specific language translation spells on both Severus and any listeners, seeing if either could work. None of the spells cast on Severus worked, and the specific translation spells on the listeners would work for a few seconds before Severus began speaking in a new language; the general spells didn’t work at all. It seemed like the curse could tell when someone tried to circumvent it and reacted by changing the language.

The situation had been going on for 3 months before Severus lost what remained of his patience.

“ _No more! We have searched and searched, there are no solutions! I am_ ** _done_** _,_ ” Severus exploded during one of the many research meetings he and Harry were having to research. Harry was not all that surprised that the man had finally reached his breaking point, and if he was honest with himself, he had been expecting Severus to react like this much earlier.

“I know this isn’t ideal Severus, but there just has to be something that we haven’t tried yet. Don’t give up,” Harry tried to encourage the other man. Severus just glared at him.

“ _No more, Potter. Once this year is up, I am resigning and going to live in the country where I won’t have to worry about other people,_ ” Severus responded. “ _And no amount of whining and complaining will convince me otherwise_ ,” he added with a glare when Harry opened his mouth to respond.

Harry subsided with a grumble before returning to the book he had been reading. After a few minutes of glaring at one of the walls of the room, Severus did the same.

\------

A week later, as all the students prepared to return home for the summer, Harry and Severus were trying one last time to find a solution to Severus’ predicament. Well, Harry was, Severus was just fuming in relative silence since Harry had cast a silencing spell after listening to the man for a few hours grumble non-stop. In retaliation, Severus had sent several prank spells back at Harry, which the younger man hadn’t noticed since Severus had cast everything silently.

With a heavy heart, Harry closed the last book they had found that had anything to do with mangled spells, translation spells/curses, and anything else they could think of that related to this situation. Despite looking through hundreds of books, they had found no solutions, and with each progressing day, Harry had become more and more depressed. To him, losing Severus was an unthinkable outcome to this situation, he still hadn’t told the older male how he felt!

Yes, in spite of all that had happened between the two men, Harry had fallen in love with Severus. It happened slowly and over the years the two had taught together at Hogwarts, but it had really set in when Harry spent every available minute helping to look for a solution. The two had traded barbs back and forth, turning it into a game to see who could come up with the most creative way to insult the other. Seeing how worried Severus became over one of his Slytherins being in the hospital wing because of an accident in their Defense class, how he would take the time to listen to any of his students who had issues despite them not understanding his response; there were so many things that had been shocking to discover about Severus, but Harry was happy to continue the discoveries.

If Severus left, Harry’s chances of learning more about the other man as well as his chances to possibly court him would dwindle down to nil. Harry was determined to find something,  _anything_ , that would help Severus.

Harry finally looked away from the disappointing book and turned his gaze towards Severus.

“There was nothing in this book, either. Severus, I… I don’t know what to do, there doesn’t seem to be any book that might have an answer. What do we do now,” Harry asked.

Severus didn’t respond except to raise an eyebrow before finally gesturing at his face, reminding Harry that he had silenced the older man. Sheepish, Harry sent a  _finite_ at Severus as he turned back towards the impressive stack of books the two men had gathered.

“ _I_   _think it is_  time to give up Harry, which is what I was saying earlier,” Severus snarked. With a sigh, Harry nodded his head in agreement and flicked his wand, sending the books to their respective place on his personal shelves. In hopes of finding something, Harry had even ventured into the famed Black Library to search for books.

Both men exited Harry’s quarters and walked to dinner, Severus with a patented sneer and Harry with a heavy heart.

Dinner that night passed as usual with the only exception of Harry not speaking and chatting like he normally did. Harry honestly couldn’t focus on dinner enough to even enjoy it because he knew that Severus would leave as soon as the students did.

That night, Harry tossed and turned, slipping between various nightmares that he couldn’t remember come morning.

\------------

The end of the school year came and went, the students leaving for the summer and all of the teachers doing the same once their classrooms were cleaned and prepared for next year. Ever since the last night that Harry had been researching with Severus, no one had seen the dour man outside his rooms. Harry had even asked McGonagall if she had seen the potions master; she had informed Harry that Severus had already tendered his resignation and was packing up all his items.

Knowing this would be his last chance to say anything before Severus disappeared into the countryside, Harry finally decided to approach Severus and confess his feelings, hoping that the older man would be willing to continue to be at least friends if,  _when_ , Harry is rejected.

Before his gathered courage could flee in the face of his despair, Harry marched down to the dungeons, hoping to catch the other man before he left the castle. As Harry approached Severus’ chambers, he heard cursing and loud thud noises coming from the room.

Harry rushed into the room, wand at the ready. He was most certainly not prepared for what he saw.

Severus’ room was flooded in vases full of flowers, each vase had a different type of flower and no two vases were the same. Harry’s heart clenched with the thought that someone else had already tried to capture the potions master’s heart. He swallowed heavily but continued into the room, stepping around the vases closest to the door.

“Severus is something...wrong,” Harry hesitantly asked because as soon as he spoke, Severus’ head snapped up with a glare. The man had his wand out and was trying to shift the vases out of his way. From the clear area around and behind the man, Severus had only managed to clear about 5 feet in front of his bedroom door and, from Harry’s angle at the entrance, there seemed to be a direct path in the bedroom, which had also been flooded with vases of flowers

“Of course there is something wrong, Potter! Someone has managed to break into my rooms and left a mess! Now quit being useless and help me,” snarled the surly man.

Harry was confused because there was no way someone broke into a teacher’s rooms at Hogwarts; there were too many wards to protect the entrances, and even the portraits were commanded to never open if the person requesting entrance was not another professor. He tried to think of any other way someone could break in, and an interesting thought popped into his head.

“Dobby?” Harry called for the excitable elf who popped in with a gleeful squeal. Before Harry could question Dobby, he looked around and clapped his hands, a large smile adorning his face.

“Great Harry Potter has seen what Dobby has dones to helps! Dobby so glad potions masters Snape likes the flowerses!” The elf popped away, not staying to see what his words had caused.

Harry and Severus’ jaws dropped when the elf began speaking, and when he said that he ‘helped’ Harry, Severus turned a murderous glare on the younger man, who looked terrified and confused.

“What did the elf mean when he said he was  _helping you_ ,” Severus thundered, managing to shake Harry from his shock.

“I honestly have no idea what Dobby was talking, Severus. I haven’t asked him to do anything for me for a few months because I’ve been busy helping you,” Harry placated, trying to express his genuine confusion.

This seemed to remove the rage from Severus, but he frowned, now in confusion and concern.

“If this was not done on your orders, what the bloody hell happened to make Dobby believe this was a solution to a problem? What kind of problem would result in this,” Severus wondered.

Harry swallowed again and tried to gather his supposed Gryffindor courage.

“I don’t know how Dobby found out, but Severus, I… I was wondering if you would like to get a meal with me. I was hoping to… get closer to you?” Harry’s explanation petered off before he stood there silently, wishing the ground would swallow him so he didn’t have to face rejection.

There was no response from Severus for a few moments before Harry heard a swishing noise, His head jerked up, afraid that Severus left the room in anger. What he saw, however, was a large bundle of violets headed towards his face. Thankfully, his Seeker skills kicked in and he snagged the bundle out of the air, looking from the bundle to Severus, confused and wary.

“Um, was that a rejection? Because I don’t know why else you would throw flowers at me,” Harry asked dumbfounded.

Severus cleared his throat before responding.

“Pot-Harry, would you go with me to the Three Broomsticks for lunch tomorrow?”

Harry stared at Severus, watching as a slight blush graced the older man’s cheeks before the question registered in his brain.

“Uh, course, um, I mean, of course, I will. Um, are you sure about going out though? The curse isn’t lifted yet, and I know you hate when people stare at you,” Harry stuttered his response.

Severus stared at Harry as if he had suddenly started proclaiming he was the next Merlin (which was not a claim Harry wanted,  _thank you, Skeeter_ ). Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“How you have managed to survive until now is a miracle, you dunderhead.” When Harry just looked at Severus, unhappy, the older man sighed again. “The curse was broken a month ago, I don’t know how or why, but I haven’t spoken in anything other than English.”

Harry grinned at Severus, ecstatic that the curse was over, though he was curious how it was ended. When he posed the question to Severus, the other man just shrugged.

“I am unsure how it ended but I am glad it is over. I can insult people as much as I want and be understood. Now, do you still wish to go with me to lunch?” The raised eyebrow made Harry smile fondly, remembering how many times that specific look had been directed at him as a student.

“I would gladly go with you for lunch, Severus.”

\---- (3 years later)

Harry glanced up when he heard grumbles coming from his husband.

“Welcome home, I wasn’t expecting you for another hour,” Harry stood up and gave Severus a kiss as the older male walked into the refurbished Grimmauld Place. Severus and Harry had decided to retire from teaching when they received the wonderful news that they were granted guardianship of a young orphaned girl. The child had lost her parents when they were killed in a Muggle car accident. Because of tightened measures for finding and protecting Muggleborn children in case of a repeat of Harry’s life, the young girl was not sent to a Muggle orphanage but a magical one run by Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Malfoy. The ensuing friendship developed between the two women was both terrifying and astounding. If asked about the family feud that had existed and the new friendship between their wives, both of their husbands would give a strained grin but say nothing. Although there were a lot of gossip reports about both men meeting and drinking lots in local bars on dates that coincide with their wives’ tea party days

When Severus didn’t respond to Harry’s question, Harry looked back at him as the younger man headed towards the kitchen to make some tea. Severus’ expression was a concerning mixture of frustrated and confused.

“Severus, what’s wrong? Is there an issue with Allison?” Harry was worried that something had happened to stop the adoption of their baby girl.

“No, no issues with Allison. Harry, do you remember when I was cursed to speak in other languages?”

Harry grinned with a small blush, fondly remembering the situation that led to their first date… as well as the realization that both men had a mild voice kink. Their sex life certainly improved once Harry began using Parseltongue in bed and Severus utilized his limited Italian to rile the other up.

“Yes, I do remember. Are you hoping for a repeat tonight, my dear  _ **serpent**_ ,” Harry returned to his husband and draped his arms over the taller male’s shoulders. Harry enjoyed the flare of desire sparkling to life in Severus’ eyes, not to mention the full body shudder Severus gave at the hissed word at the end of Harry’s question.

“As appealing as that offer is, I’m asking because I don’t remember if we ever discovered how the curse was broken,” responded Severus. Harry tilted his head to the side, a considering expression on his face.

“Hmm, you’re right, I can’t remember. I just know you were only speaking English at the end of the school year.”

Severus finally disengaged his husband, ignoring the pout Harry directed his way. He walked towards their family sitting room and pulled out the Potter family pensieve. Severus heard Harry puttering around in the kitchen, making tea more than likely. He jumped when he heard something hitting the ground and shattering followed by frantic steps to the sitting room.

“You’re not asking about that curse because it’s back, right?!” Harry’s breathless question reached Severus seconds before the flustered man dashed through the door. Severus treated his husband to his patented raised eyebrow.

“Did it sound like I was speaking in a different language earlier, Mr. Potter-Snape? No, I asked because it has never settled well with me that we don’t know how the curse ended,” Severus drawled, causing his husband to flush slightly in embarrassment. “I want to see if there was anything that could have triggered the end in my memories.” With that said, Severus turned back to the pensieve and began to remove his memories from around that time.

Harry straightened himself up and went back to the kitchen, deciding to start a roast for dinner.

A few hours later, Harry was startled again by Severus, this time because the man had entered the room silently and Harry had turned around to leave the room to call for his husband.

“Merlin, Sev, don’t do that!” Harry clutched at his chest, trying to slow his heart down. Peering at the older man, Harry noticed the dumbfound, Neville-just-melted-another-cauldron-even-though-the potion-was-simple look on his face.

“Did you manage to discover how the curse was ended? What was the cure,” Harry questioned, watching as Severus strode over to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a full bottle of Firewhiskey. He stared in confusion when Severus just opened the bottle and took a large gulp.

“The ‘cure’ was so simple that I cannot believe we didn’t try it in the first place,” Severus finally said after a few more gulps of Firewhiskey. At Harry’s questioning look, Severus continued. “Do you remember the day we quit looking for a solution in books? I believe it was the same day I proclaimed that I wouldn’t be staying to teach next year.”

Harry nodded, remembering his own desperate desire to find a solution before Severus did leave.

“Do you also remember how we had thrown several prank spells at each other? You had sent a  _silencio_ at me near the end?” At Harry’s second nod, Severus continued. “Before we left for dinner that night, you sent a  _finite_ at me to cancel the silencing spell.”

Harry rose an eyebrow in a strange mimicry of his husband’s infamous facial expression when Severus didn’t continue with his explanation.

“I sent the  _finite_ , and…? Was that the night the curse was broken? What did you do after that?”

Severus huffed out a laugh before recapping the Firewhiskey and placing it back into the cabinet.

“And, that was how the curse was broken. The  _finite_ canceled  _all spells placed on me_. The solution was a simple spell learned in the first year of Hogwarts!” Severus nearly shouted the last sentence.

Harry stared at Severus as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that a curse that had afflicted Severus for over 5 months was countered by the most basic spell.

“Huh,” was all he managed to weakly say. A laugh began building in his chest that soon escaped and Harry was nearly bent double as he laughed at the simplicity of the solution that everyone had overlooked. Severus joined in with some chuckles before walking over to Harry and helping the younger man stand back up.

Harry wrapped his arms around Severus’ waist, grinning up at him.

“Well, this sounds like a wonderful thing to celebrate! An answer to a 3-year-old mystery, and the beginning of a beautiful relationship,” Harry exclaimed when Severus looked down at his face with a fond grin.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Mr. Potter-Snape. And I think I know where to start the celebration.” With that said, Severus picked Harry up and left the kitchen, heading for the stairs and their bedroom.

Harry just laughed again and made sure dinner was under a preservation charm; they would be hungry after all their ‘celebrating’.

Who knew that someone cursing Severus to be figuratively tongue-tied would lead to Harry getting over his own tongue-tied nature and ask the older man out?

**Author's Note:**

> This was another drabble that I have been working on for a while. I liked the thought of Severus just speaking random languages with no one being able to understand him except for the one person he didn't like. From there, this spawned with lots of edits and re-writing. I feel like the ending is kinda lackluster, but I wasn't sure how else to end it. Let me know what you think?


End file.
